Sanctuary
by kumoriko1
Summary: We all know Chihiro was 10 when she crossed into the spirit world. What if, instead of 10 she was 17? Note about the story on my profile.
1. The Long Journey

**A.N. - This all started when I was thinking, "Man, Chihiro and Haku need to be older so they can get it on!" But then I thought, "That's incredibly selfish and the movie is about pure love and Chihiro's coming of age." So instead of my previous plotless fantasy this story is about Chihiro maturing as a person and growing up.**

**Now before all of you start reading the actual story there are a few things I need to say first.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own "Spirited Away" nor any of its characters. This is a work of fiction and written purely for entertainment purposes. **

**Warnings: There will be fowl (hehe fowl, yu-bird flies away). Ahem, there will be foul language, mature situations, mature themes, overly mature fruit, heavy use of personification, sex, drugs, alcohol, and probably other things people will find offensive.**

**Now you may read the story.**

Chihiro sat in the back of her parent's car. The car gentle jostled Chihiro as she daydreamed. The car hit a particularly bad pot hole which jolted her out of her thoughts. Looking down at the object clenched in her hands her mood darkened. The said object was a bouquet.

Upon further inspection her mood darkened even farther, "Mom! My flowers died!"

Her mother tucked a stray strand of hair behind her face before answering her daughter, "Well, it's no surprise considering how tightly you were holding them."

"But, Mom!" Chihiro's protest was cut short by her mother.

"Don't worry, dear. We'll put them in some water when we get to the house." Getting no sympathy from her mother Chihiro slumped in her seat.

Slouching even further into her seat Chihiro muttered to herself, "This sucks. I finally get a bouquet and it's a goodbye present. It's depressing."

Her mother tried to cheer Chihiro up, "What about the rose your father and I got you for your birthday?"

Chihiro snapped at her mother, "It was one rose! One flower doesn't make a bouquet." Chihiro was in a full blown sulk when her eyes landed on the _cute_ goodbye card. Starting at the offending card she angrily removed it and stuffed it in to her short's pocket. Pink shorts nonetheless, they should be black or red. Pink kind of detracts from the whole angry mood. Card dealt with Chihiro let the bouquet fall to the floor.

Chihiro switched positions so she was lying across to seat. She put her feet up on the window opposite her. She then proceeded to glare at her sneakers as if it was their fault she was moving.

Her staring match with her shoes was interrupted when her father called out, "Look Chihiro! There's your new school."

Her mother tried to lift Chihiro's mood, "It doesn't look so bad."

Chihiro twisted in her seat and lifted her head to stick her tongue out at the offending building. How _dare_ it interrupt her staring match! "It's gonna stink! I liked my _old_ school." Chihiro was seventeen when her parents decided to move, in her last year of high school no less. She flopped down onto the seat again to resume the staring match with her sneakers.

"I'm going to roll down to windows, dear." Chihiro ignored her mother and continued with the staring match. That is until her mother meet word with action and the wind playfully blow her hair into her eyes, causing her to blink. Damn.

Chihiro crossed her arms and turned away, refusing to meet the snickering eye of her shoes, shoes that won both staring matches. It was embarrassing, beaten by her own shoes. Damn shoes, they were gloating too.

Growing bored, as teenagers are wont to do, Chihiro sat up when her dad pulled the car to a stop.

"Did I miss a turn somewhere?" he asked looking out the window and scratching the top of his head.

"Look dear! Our house is right there, it's the blue one at the end." Chihiro's mom said pointing out the window. Chihiro looked at the house. The house was a pretty blue color and didn't look that bad. Of course she would never admit to it, but still.

It's probably just because it's blue. Blue's my favorite color so it isn't playing fair. Thus convinced that the house was cheating and that if it was any color other than blue she would hate it Chihiro examined the surrounding area.

"Ah ha! I'll just take this road. It's a shortcut." Hearing those words from her dad Chihiro knew she was in trouble.

"Dear," Chihiro's mother tried to prevent the disaster that was approaching, "The movers will get there before us. Let's go back."

"Nonsense, it's a shortcut." Chihiro's mother sighed. She had lost the battle.

As the car started forward Chihiro looked down at the base of an old tree. Lots of little square rocks with a hole in the middle lay around the tree overgrown with weeds. "Mom, what are those stones?"

Chihiro's mom looked to see what her daughter was talking about, "They're little house, for the spirits.

"Oh," Chihiro's sullen mood was left behind as her father drove deeper into the woods. Behind some trees she thought she saw a squat frog statue.

The frog statue was forgotten as they left all semblance of civilization behind and her father accelerated to what Chihiro was sure was a dangerous level, "Dad! Are we lost?"

"Don't worry, I've got four-wheel drive!" Her father switched into four-wheel drive and put on a burst of speed, throwing Chihiro back into her seat.

"The car speed around a curve and bumped over a stone road. The road straightened out revealing a large lump of stone and a red building at the end. Chihiro's dad slammed on the breaks and managed to stop the car bare foot away from the lump of stone.

Chihiro and her parents poured from the car. Chihiro recognized the lump of stone to be a statue like the frog statue she saw earlier. On further inspection the red building turned was actually a tunnel.

Chihiro's dad stood facing the tunnel scratching his head, "Huh, I wonder what it's doing here? Ah, let's go explore."

"Come on dear, the mover's will get there before us," Chihiro's mom tried to get her husband to return to the car.

"They have keys; let them get started with out us." Chihiro's dad shrugged off his wife's concerns.

Giving up on convincing her husband to stay Chihiro's mom followed him into the tunnel.

"Dad! Mom! Don't go! It's—" Chihiro struggled to think of a reason for her parents not to go, "It's creepy! I'm not going!" Satisfied with her answer Chihiro stomped her foot and ran over to the frog statue.

"Fine Chihiro," he mother sighed, "Wait in the car for us." Her mother then turned and headed into the tunnel. Chihiro stood next to the statue pouting. Looking at it next to her she could she the smile of both sides of the statue.

The double smile freaked Chihiro out a bit as tried to think of what to do. She could stay next to the double smiling frog or she could follow her parents into the dark unknown tunnel. Creepy frog statue or unknown tunnel with her parents. Finally she made her decision, "Mom, wait for me!"

Chihiro ran to catch up with her mom. When she got there latched on to her mom's arm. "Chihiro, don't grip my arm so tight. You'll make me trip." Chihiro lessen the death grip on her mother only slightly.

Chihiro couldn't help it. The dark reminded her of the monsters she thought she could see when she was little. They were always there: under her bed, in her closet, beneath the stairs, behind the doors, everywhere. She knew now that they weren't real, just figments of her imagination. But the dark still brought back bad memories.

While Chihiro was remembering the numerous hiding places for monsters the tunnel got lighter, and the family stepped into a strange room.

**A.N. – Alright everybody, let me know what you think. Please. Have a good day. **


	2. Sacred Ground

**AN – Yeah, I know, I little bit off from it will be up in a week. Sorry. Unfortunately things have been getting busier and whenever I find fun time I think, 'If I have time for fun I have time to study.' Man, it's depressing. But as I was sitting here trying to find the energy to get started on my computer science project I thought, I might as well type up the chapter.**

**The disclaimers and warnings are the same as last time.**

Chihiro entered the building after her parents. 'Well, this is strange,' she thought. The building looked like a cross between a church and the waiting room of a train station. There were wooden benches and a strange fountain that looked like a bird bath. The windows were circular with, and the glass was stain glass; red, yellow, green, and blue. But strangest of all was the utter lack of sounds.

She didn't hear any birds in the distance or the scratching sounds of bugs and rodents. Only the slap-tap of her parent's shoes and the soft thudding of her sneakers made any noise on the concrete floor. Chihiro strained her ears a harder. She could hear the small drips in the fountains and farther out, in the distance, she thought she heard something else. "Do you hear that?" her mother asked?

"Yeah," Chihiro concentrated on the faint sound. 'It sounds like… soft whistles, and gentle rumbling.' She brightened as she figured out the source of the noises. "A train!" She exclaimed.

"We must be near the train station," her mother stated. 'A train station,' Chihiro thought, 'with a train station nearby it will be easier to visit my friends and they could come see me.' The realization that she wasn't really that far from her old friends cheered Chihiro up.

"Let's go check it out!" Her father stated excitedly. "It will be fun. It's an adventure." Her father was acting like a little kid, getting excited about exploring a new place.

Chihiro briefly entertained the notion that it would indeed be exciting but quickly scraped the idea. She just wanted to get back to the car and to the new house as soon as possible. The sooner she got unpacked the sooner she could go visit her friends. She didn't want to waste any time. "Check it out. What? No! You said just a quick look. This sucks! Let just go back."

Chihiro's father ignored her protests and headed out the building. Her mother, however, was getting fed up with Chihiro's complaining. "Chihiro, stop whinnying. You're not ten anymore," her mother scolded her. Her mother moved to catch up with Chihiro's father. Soon both of her parents were outside the building. Her father was already out of sight.

"Wait!" Chihiro called out, "I'm coming!" 'Stupid parents, treating me like a kid,' Chihiro grumbled to herself. She hurried after her parents. Just as she stepped out of the building the wind ripped itself from the building with a howl. Chihiro spun around to examine the building. 'That's weird,' she thought, 'it almost sounded like the building was moaning.'

Turning back towards the direction her parents were headed she was surprised to see green fields. 'What happened to the forest?' Looking around there was no sign of the forest her father had just recently recklessly tore through. She turned back towards the building once again. Noticing he building she and her parents had exited was on a slight hill she quickly rationalized what happened, 'We passed through a tunnel. The forest must be on the other side of the hill.'

Out of the corner of her eye Chihiro spied a lump of rock. Upon further inspection she noticed it was another frog statue. Scattered through out the fields were a multitude of the stone statues. Some of them were standing upright; others were lying on their sides or crookedly tipped to one side.

She was distracted from her thoughts by her father's excited shout. "I knew it! It's an abandoned theme park," her father sounded pleased with his conclusion. "They built them everywhere in the ninety's. Then the economy went bad and they all went bankrupt." Her father looked at Chihiro, "You should know that from your history class." Chihiro grimaced at the thought of her history class. Her teacher was so boring.

"Don't remind me of that awful class," Chihiro frowned as she remembered the monotonous droning of her teacher. Students are wont to exaggerate the bad parts of a teacher, but in Chihiro's case her teacher had a truly boring voice that was made worse by the scattered half-formed ideas that permeated the flow of his lectures. While she lost in her thoughts the small family came across a dried river bed.

"See? They were going to put a river here," Chihiro's dad said while crossing the rivulet. He held out his arm to help his wife across. Chihiro avoided the slippery algae covered rocks as she picked her way over to where he parents were standing. "Do you smell that?" Her father said sniffing the air. "It smells delicious! I wonder if this theme park's still open." Chihiro paused in her trek across the rocks to smell the air. 'I don't smell anything,' she grumbled to herself before continuing to the other side.

When the entire family made it across the stream Chihiro's father took after the source of the smell. "Hurry up dear," her mother told her before heading after her father. Chihiro trudged along after her parents scraping her shoes on the dirt trying to remove the muck that clung to the sole's of her shoes.

After she had removed the algae to her satisfaction Chihiro took in the sights around them. All of the buildings were colorfully decorated. Traditional banners and neon signs littered the building's façade. Strangely all of them advertised the same thing, food. "All of the buildings are restaurants," Chihiro's mother commented.

"Yeah mom," Chihiro rolled her eyes, "I noticed." Either her mother didn't notice or didn't care about Chihiro's attitude because she kept on walking. Chihiro sighed, 'This trip is stupid. This theme park is stupider. All restaurants, that's real smart.'

"I found it!" While Chihiro was grumbling her father had located the source of the smell. Now that she was closer Chihiro's nose was tantalized by the delightful smell wafting from the open doorway. Her father ducked into the door, followed by her mother. "Hello? Anybody here?" Her father called out. "Huh," He scratched the back of his head, "Oh, well. We can pay them when they get back." He gathered some plates and started heaping food onto them.

Chihiro's mother seated herself on one of the stools before helping herself to a small roosted bird. "I wonder what this is called," she said before taking a bite. "Oh, Chihiro, You must try this. It's delicious."

Chihiro was horrified at the sight of her parents helping themselves to the food at the stand. "No way! You're going to get in trouble," she vehemently opposed her parents' actions. 'It's stealing,' Chihiro thought, 'I can't be caught stealing. If I have a record then I'll never get a license.' Whether or not this was true she didn't know but she wasn't going to chance it.

Chihiro quickly left before she could hear her parents' protests. Turning back to check if she was being followed she saw her father heap three plates full of food. 'Pig,' she thought. "You're going to turn into pigs if you keep eating like that!" She shouted at her parents.

Chihiro wondered around the small town waiting for her parents to finish stuffing themselves. At the end of the village farthest away from the dried river bed she came across a sign for a bath house. Just beyond the sign was a large wooden bridge and beyond that there was the bath house. 'It's huge,' she thought staring up at the impressive structure.

The bath house was several stories high and certainly the largest one Chihiro had ever seen. While she was admiring the height of the bath house she noticed a stream of black smoke coming from a smoke stack on the side of the building. 'I thought this theme park was abandoned. The smoke stack is active and there was hot food sitting out, it has the signs of an operational park but where are the people? This place keeps getting weirder and weirder.'

A low rumbling interrupted Chihiro's train of thoughts. "A train," Chihiro called out before rushing to a railing in the middle of the bridge. Climbing up onto the railing for a better view she looked down. "Holy Shit!" she cried out upon looking down. There were hundreds of feet between the bottom of the bridge and the ground below. The train was a small moving shape on the tracks below.

"Holy shit," Chihiro repeated to herself while balancing on the rail. Even though she was intimidated by the sheer height she still clung to the railing, like the way people stare at car accidents. "Damn it," she swore, "this whole trip is such a stupid idea!"

"What are you doing here?"

**I apologize for it being so short. I'm doing some research on Japanese mythological creatures before I get into the next chapter. That's way it stops right before she meets Haku. If anybody knows the Japanese name of the clothing Haku and the servants (Rin and Sen) wear please let me know. It will save me time from having to research it myself.**

**I've changed my pen name to Kumoriko1, so look for the next chapters under that name. I've also updated my profile so be sure to check it out for the latest news relating to Sanctuary.**


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